A Brief History of Newtown...

Newtown was first settled in 1853 and was originally known as Inner Pinchard's Island and also as Inner Islands. Then in 1890 at the communities annual Christmas concert it's name was changed to Newtown. Many of the families that originally settled the community still reside there today, such as the Vincent's, Barbour's, Hall's, Sainsbury's, and Hefferton's, just to name a few.

As in most of outport Newfoundland, Cod fishing was the backbone of the community until the Cod Moratorium in 1992. The people also fished for Lobster, Caplin, and Crab, as they still do today. In Newtown's earlier years, the Barbour family was a highly respected and influential merchant family. The Barbour Living Heritage Village pays homage to the family and the hardworking people of Newtown.

Modern conveniences were not introduced to Newtown until recent years as compared to the rest of North America. Electricity came to Newtown in 1963, the Telephone in 1969, and modern pluming in the early 70's, which was originally installed to provide the fish plant with fresh water.

Several well known authors have hailed from Newtown and it's surrounding areas, including Captain Job Barbour who wrote the very well known Newfoundland tale "Forty-Eight Days Adrift". Many other people of note have come from the area such as David Blackwood, one of Newfoundland's premiere artists, who was born in Wesleyville.

Some other points of interest are the restored aircraft of Nobel Prize winner and co-discoverer of insulin Sir Frederick Banting which resides in Musgrave Harbour's Municipal Park. Also there is the Dover Fault. This is the point where North America, Europe, and Africa were joined by a collision 410 million years ago, and seperated 200 million years ago.